1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a continuous tag printing apparatus. More specifically, the present invention relates to a continuous tag printing apparatus for performing printing on a strip of tags, such as price tags, and for simultaneously providing a partition tag so as to distinguish a set of tags printed with one type of information from another set of tags printed with a different type of information.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, the information to be printed by a continuous tag printing apparatus may often change every predetermined number of tags. After printing, the strip of printed tags is cut into individual tags which are then stacked for use as needed. When the printing contents change every predetermined number of printed tags to be cut and stacked, it is convenient to sandwich a partition tag between sets of tags printed with different information so as to readily distinguish one set of tags from another set of tags.
As a result of the foregoing, partition tags are conventionally formed as shown in FIG. 1. Every time the information printed on a strip 1 of regular tags 2 changes, two non-regular tags 2a and 2b having different lengths than the regular tags and having different lengths from each other are formed between the regular tags. A cutting position C' which differs from a predetermined cutting position C is set between the tags 2a and 2b. The strip 1 is cut at the cutting position C' so as to obtain the short tag 2a and the long tag 2b. In this manner, since the short and long tags 2a and 2b are sandwiched between the regular tags every time the information being printed changes, the change in information can be readily checked even after the tags are stacked as shown in FIG. 2.
However, when the partition tags are formed as described above, the portion of the strip 1 which corresponds to two tags is wasted. Furthermore, since the regular tags 2 have a length different from those of the tags 2a and 2b, it is inconvenient to stack the cut tags which have different lengths in a stacker or to align them manually.